Just about everything is right about Belle & Sebastian: the image, the wonderful covers (generally with extremely attractive ladies), their media-shyness and most of all their positively perfect, powerful pop songs. Face of the band, Stuart Murdoch established B&S in ‘96 in Glasgow. Their albums 'Tigermilk', 'The Boy With The Arab Strap' and 'Fold Your Hands Child,...' (with the ladies from Iceland's Múm on the cover) are now classics. The end of 2010 saw the release of their long awaited album ‘Write about Love’ (with collaboration from the likes of Norah Jones), successor the impressive ‘06 release ‘The Life Pursuit’. B&S – the name is derived from a film series by actress Cécile Aubry, by the way – has also been active aside from the album. In mid December the band curated at the UK Bowlie II (with the likes of Dirty Projectors, ex-B&S-lid Isobel Campbell,…), the successor to The Bowlie Weekender established in ’99, call it the forerunner to All Tomorrow’s Parties. The ‘God Help the Girl’ project that was released this year was also a hit, ‘a hypothetical film-musical’ according to the band. Time for B&S III or: B&S's third AB visit in about a decade. Not bad, knowing that B&S are rather sparing with live shows…
Support act will be the equally Scottish Zoey Van Goey. This indie-pop quartet debuted in ’07 with the single ‘Foxtrot Vandals’, produced by Belle & Sebastian-frontman Stuart Murdoch. In their homeland they were described as "Postal Service with a sense of humour". The band has released two albums in the meantime and they performed in December ’10 at the All Tomorrow’s Parties that went by the name of ‘Bowlie 2’ and was curated by – you'll never guess - Belle & Sebastian.
►►► DOMINO FACTS…
Belle & Sebastian were previously present at Domino in ‘04, at the time of their album ‘Dear Catastrophe Waitress’. Then Ex-Belle & Sebastian member Isobel Campbell performed in ’06 at Domino at the time of her beautiful album ‘Ballad Of The Broken Seas’. That was without Mark Lanegan, unfortunately, but he in turn triumphed with the The Gutter Twins at Domino in ’08 (in spite of Greg Dulli heading to hospital half-way through the set due to dehydration). The sisters from Iceland's MÚM - who adorned the B&S cover 'Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant’' - debuted at Domino during a Fat Cat evening (with the likes of MICE PARADE and DUPLO REMOTE) in the ABClub in ’01.
B&S TV / Write About Love from Belle & Sebastian on Vimeo.